I basically took Children’s Ministry and Culture’s post. So I will just direct you there. It will definitely be interesting to see what they come up with. In other news they also pulled out of the Narnia series. After a dissappointing $419 Million Worldwide ( ) sounds like to me they were trying to find a way out.

Anyway. I really want to see what you guys think about targeting boys. What would you do differently in media or in your church to go after boys with your programming.

So I went to Barnes and Noble the other day with the in-laws. I was checking out some books and was looking for a chain reference Bible. It was a cool tool that my boss had that we used when writing curriuculum. Anyway as I’m looking for this Bible this couple rushes straight up to a Manga Bible.

If you don’t know what manga is here is a link that will tell you what you need to know. Basically it’s like a comic book. The couple then complains about “the dumbing down of God’s word”. Here is what I want to know from my readers.

Is this dumbing down of God’s word or something different. What do you feel about this idea of a manga Bible? Again if you don’t know what Manga is please click the link before you comment.

So today I started reading a book called Practicing Greatness. The first couple lines in the first chapter reminded me of something that really pushed me further in my walk with Christ than anything I can remember.

Mediocrity for Christ is a sin. I remember having this sort of cosmic conflict in my life between Greatness and Humility. That somehow being great was not being humble. It may sound silly but to me as a middle schooler to about a junior in high school I really struggled with this idea. Then I found someone who told me this exact thing. That Christ wanted all of me. He wanted it now and He wanted me to pursue Him fervently and with zeal. I was just overwhelmed to be a part of something much bigger than I had dreamed and gave it all that I had. It was incredible to strive to be great by giving and giving and giving. It changed my life and I will always remember that time in my life as a major step in becoming a leader.

Phillipians 2 talks about just that. Christ gave all that He had and we should do the same. Living like a Great Leader means humility. When James and John were arguing about being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, did Christ say don’t be great just be normal and blend in and be humble. No! He said those that are last will be first. He didn’t disregard their mission but instead gave them guidance and a direction to lean to.

So this morning I want to tell you to be great. Read Phillipians 2 for a direction and guidance from the Father and be great. The cause is Christ and people that are far from Him. Go after the cause and be great.

So much to do this week but not as stressful as the past few weeks:

1. Going to Columbia this week to see the inlaws. They are incredible and I’m sure we will have an awesome time.
2. Relaxation will happen this week, I took a day off early to just kind of soak at home for a bit before we leave that night.
3. The Grizzlies play the Lakers tonight (two points to consider: I despise the Lakers alot, I despise Pau Gasol alot more)
4. I hope I get a little bit of time to do some more live lyric type stuff. The one I did this past week went alright and used keyframing that I doubt I will use in alot of the stuff but really gave me some needed experience in motion.
5. READING!!! I haven’t had much time to sit down and read a book over the past few weeks and it is driving me insane. But this will definitely happen this week.

Anyway hope everyone has an awesome week this week and I can’t wait to hear stories from you guys about Christmas!!

If you haven’t seen this already you really need to check it out. Pretty awesome little tool.

Here is the link for my page if you wanna be friends:

jcsonline

I wrote about the future of children’s ministry last week and absolutely loved where people’s minds got to go through the post.

I got a follow up comment from paulthinkingoutloud. Go back and read the comment here

Paul brought up an excellent point. This is been something that I heard alot about a few months ago throughout the CM world. The “memory verse”, everyone knows about it and it is an incredible tool that is probably not being used in the most effective way right now. I think Paul is right that scripture memory is very important. We know that the Word of God doesn’t come back void and I think that those that don’t like rote memorization of scripture aren’t giving God’s word enough justice to let it permeate mind and spirit of those that digest it.

However, I don’t think that the most important thing is scripture memory. The most important thing is getting kids to know Christ in a personal way. A way that leads to development and growth and I think that scripture is a part of that but that can’t be our end goal. Paul is also doing things to promote spiritual development in the home with his children. This is very key. I am not a parent so I cannot fully impart meaningful knowledge on parenting and guiding kids in their spiritual development as a parent. But I do know that parents need to be the ones leading the way on leading their kids in Christ.

It’s funny how parents want to be an influence on a kids life in seemingly every area except the spiritual one. And yes that is a blanket statement because not all parents are like this. But I think the next big step in Children’s ministry really has little to do with kids and more to do with parents. How can we get the parents to be the ones leading the charge in seeing their kids to know Christ?

How can CM connect with parents in a way that provides meaningful resources to them that helps them in their spiritual leadership roles? How can we provide a forum to allow us to know where parents are missing the mark? How can we create a partnership with parents that allows us to be the secondary spiritual leaders in their kids’ lives?

This is a big issue in the next step of CM. Let me know if there is a way out there already or if you’ve got something to add to the discussion.

And thanks to paulthinkingoutloud for the push to remember the scripture when we are teaching kids and not just the relationship. (both are extremely important)

Our first week of our series called “More than a Story” went very well yesterday. It was incredible to see kids really wrestle with the idea that God isn’t angry at them. We gave them the mission of Christ. A rescue mission where we got off of the path that God had for us and needed to be rescued. Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) I think that our kids are beginning to see this mission of Christ and are understanding that God loves them and wants to restore their relationship more than anything else this holiday season.

Thank you so much for your prayers. God is speaking to our kids and it is because people like you are seeking God’s face so that our kids can hear from God.

An incredible weekend capped off with an incredible time for our kids. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. I am so thankful for what I get to do.

Now it’s time to get crackin on some more stuff. You guys rock thanks so much!

We are starting our Christmas Curriculum on Sunday for our Elementary School. We are praying for God to allow these kids to see Jesus as more than just a character in a story, more than just a name, more than just a man, but our Savior who lived a life FOR US! We are always praying for our kids to get truth. Because the Truth of God changes lives. Imagine as my friend Patti Jo Mackey said “What if kids grew up living without all of the lives of religion, life, and experience and instead live their life (entire life) based on the Truth of God’s word…”

So I am asking you to pray and pray hard that our kids will receive God’s truth this week and everytime that we have an opportunity to. That God will allow us to raise up students of God’s words and workers and leaders all working together for the kingdom of God right now. Not waiting on an age, stage, or position. Our kids have what they need to live for God and that is Him! I just pray that we get out of the way and let them get Him without us getting in the way. Please pray, pray, pray, and pray for our kids this week. It’s a big week.

I got an email from a friend today asking what I thought about Children’s Ministry and what it will look like in the next few years. I will just copy what I wrote and really want to know your thoughts:

We are always thinking about this here at Brookwood. I think that a lot of the people are missing the boat on looking for the next program or the next teaching method to really revolutionize Children’s Ministry the way that the Large Group/Small Group setup did in the 80s-90s.

I don’t have an answer for that. But I tend to think something totally different. I think that Children’s Ministry of the future has more to do with equipping kids with the tools to “do” ministry. It is something that student ministries are very good at and on top of that our culture is becoming more and more of a creative culture. Meaning that we create our own content. This trend will be seen very soon through Elementary age kids.

From Greeting, to tech, to drama, and worship. This will begin to become the forefront of Children’s ministries around the country. Kids will begin to shift from “the place I go on Sunday” to “My Church that I am a part of”

We need to be ready to develop and harness their ability to create. There is a big potential for problems because of the way that schools are set up. A lot of them are behind the curve on giving kids a balanced view on gifts and abilities. Academia or physical education seem to be the only outlet. If kids begin the discovery process earlier then it is possible for the school to see more and more problems and more and more kids looking for another outlet for their gifts.

I think that will be the biggest shift. Some others that we might see include doing away with the Large Group/Small Group model altogether. A possible decrease in large events in favor of smaller connection type events. And music that begins to work with Student Ministry in leading The Church in worship.

I hope this answers some questions and maybe will give you a few things to think about. Thanks man for the opportunity to dump on you and give you a few thoughts.

I am so extremely weirded out that God lets me talk about these things. Believe me I thought it would be years before I got to an email like that one. For all of you involved in CM what do you think the future looks like?

I have learned so much, during my time at Brookwood. From video and production stuff, to relationship building, and ministering to people and more and more about a life that is dedicated to Christ. Learning for me is the lifeblood of what I do. I want Paul’s prayer in Phillipians 1 to come true in my life. That I would learn and do those things that are excellent.

One of the things that has been learned and reinforced and learned and reinforced is that our number one command is to love God with all we have and then love others like you want to be loved. Relationships are the thing that God created us to have. Both with him and with others. Relationships that are deep and meaningful are what God created us for. Our goal at Brookwood Kids is to See Kids Know God and See Kids Be Known Personally. See obviously we want kids to have a meaningful and deep relationship with Christ. And we do meaningful things to do this. But to add to that we add things that allow our adult leaders to know these kids on a personal and meaningful level.

Why? Quick think about the curriculum that truly impacted you and pushed you towards Christ? Nothing… How about a person who made an impact on your life and showed you Christ more than anything. Loving people is what makes a difference. How do I know? It’s because that is what Christ did. He ministered to the least of these and did so with love and excellence. Loving people is something that we need to make a priority. Make the phone calls, write the letters, have that uncomfortable conversation. It makes a difference. And most of all pray that you will be anointed with the Spirit of Christ. Because without Christ and the Spirit your works are just that… works. If you want them to be meaningful then your life has to be bathed in the Spirit and that love will manifest itself out of the overflow of your time with Christ.